Panasonic UB820/UB9000 4K UHD Blu-ray player

[TotallyTuned]

I found something else that's interesting. The black bar covering the disk menu was caused by Dolby Vision Mode 1. The Mode 1 setting lets the TV process the Dolby Vision whereas the Mode 2 makes the processing happen on the UB820. Setting Dolby Vision to Mode 2 makes the black bar go away. This isn't related to the pixelation issue; today I played Amadeus and it is only HDR10 and there was pixelation at around 1hr 54 min

My setup is UB820 > Denon AV-S760H > Sony A95L

The UB820 is a $500 player built like a $200 player with a user interface that would have looked really advanced in 2006. It runs on Java. Oh, and the last firmware update was June of last year.

So yea, it's a bit disappointing to see this issue with UB820 passing DV to the TV.

Not saying that noone is out there having a perfectly fine experience with this device, but man I'm starting to suspect some of the enthusiastic forum posts were astroturfing...

[Sango]

For the RegionFreedom modification, does anyone happen to have the patch for the dark mode? It appears the original link is deleted and no mirror had been mentioned.

I also noticed, I am unable to see DV Mode 1 or 2, for the UB9000 and wondering of it is specific to the 820.

[pr0darek]

The link is where it always is, i.e. on the avforums forum. The visibility of mode 1 and 2 depends on the TV we have and whether it reports to the player.

[Sango]

Originally Posted by pr0darek

The link is where it always is, i.e. on the avforums forum. The visibility of mode 1 and 2 depends on the TV we have and whether it reports to the player.

I think you mean AVForums, but the site is down as they are moving hosts; Hopefully be up soon enough as I did see the site hours earlier. I was using reddit and movieside.de which have the same invalid link for the dark mode patch.

[pr0darek]

Originally Posted by anchor_man

* Player takes almost 2 minutes to start playing a disc from power off.

Starting the player itself takes 12-15 seconds, where is the rest of the time?...

Originally Posted by anchor_man

* Does not allow skipping relentless copyright warnings and other spam from disc manufacturers.

Just like no other.

Originally Posted by anchor_man

* Dumb remote design with a soulless "netflix" button front and center which is triggered unintentionally.

True, purchasing a remote control from UB900/9000 solves the problem.

Originally Posted by anchor_man

* Upon inserting a previously watched movie, a prompt asks whether I want to "continue" the movie from where I last left off, which was the last several minutes with the credits rolling. This is beyond stupid.

This has nothing to do with the player, it's a function of the disc.

Originally Posted by anchor_man

* The eject button only sometimes works to retract the disc tray, other times it must be forcefully pushed in, which also defies all reason.

A properly functioning player does not have this problem.

Originally Posted by anchor_man

* Device caption menus make no sense, are divorced from actual disc caption features.

Everything works the same as in other players, it also has the ability to change the lumination, which others do not have.

Originally Posted by anchor_man

* Fails to play my 4K copy of 2001 Space Odyssey.

Mine works

Originally Posted by anchor_man

* Says "Powered by Java" on the back which actually explains much of the dysfunction.

Java has nothing to do with the player, it is only required to play some discs

Originally Posted by Sango

I think you mean AVForums, but the site is down as they are moving hosts; Hopefully be up soon enough as I did see the site hours earlier. I was using reddit and movieside.de which have the same invalid link for the dark mode patch.

The description for the new version 1.3 is incorrect on movieside.de. Wait until avforums gets up.

[sjy1969]

Originally Posted by TotallyTuned

I found something else that's interesting. The black bar covering the disk menu was caused by Dolby Vision Mode 1. The Mode 1 setting lets the TV process the Dolby Vision whereas the Mode 2 makes the processing happen on the UB820. Setting Dolby Vision to Mode 2 makes the black bar go away. This isn't related to the pixelation issue; today I played Amadeus and it is only HDR10 and there was pixelation at around 1hr 54 min

My setup is UB820 > Denon AV-S760H > Sony A95L

The UB820 is a $500 player built like a $200 player with a user interface that would have looked really advanced in 2006. It runs on Java. Oh, and the last firmware update was June of last year.

So yea, it's a bit disappointing to see this issue with UB820 passing DV to the TV.

Not saying that noone is out there having a perfectly fine experience with this device, but man I'm starting to suspect some of the enthusiastic forum posts were astroturfing...

Setting to Mode 2 activates player led Dolby Vision and if your player is anything like mine will cause severe black crush. The problem with the black text in Dolby Vision was introduced in a (relatively) recent firmware update and affects certain high luminance TVs such as, but not only, the Sony A95L. The latest firmware update gave the Mode 1/Mode 2 options as a workaround. FWIW, I never use Mode 2, occasional black text on Mode 1 notwithstanding.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by TotallyTuned

I found something else that's interesting. The black bar covering the disk menu was caused by Dolby Vision Mode 1. The Mode 1 setting lets the TV process the Dolby Vision whereas the Mode 2 makes the processing happen on the UB820. Setting Dolby Vision to Mode 2 makes the black bar go away. This isn't related to the pixelation issue; today I played Amadeus and it is only HDR10 and there was pixelation at around 1hr 54 min

My setup is UB820 > Denon AV-S760H > Sony A95L

The UB820 is a $500 player built like a $200 player with a user interface that would have looked really advanced in 2006. It runs on Java. Oh, and the last firmware update was June of last year.

So yea, it's a bit disappointing to see this issue with UB820 passing DV to the TV.

Not saying that noone is out there having a perfectly fine experience with this device, but man I'm starting to suspect some of the enthusiastic forum posts were astroturfing...

Panasonic player does have its quirks but its still the best overall player (UB9000 specifically), out of all the players released ever, with Oppo being a close 2nd. My personal advice on Dolby Vision (for many reasons, not just this) is to fully disable it on a capable TV (1000+ nits), and only enable for discs where the HDR10 layer is botched. Dolby Vision's own quirks aren't worth the benefit (or lack thereof) it provides on a capable TV.

Can't bag on Panasonic too much considering they still have players in production and still are releasing firmware for what has become a niche market.

[Hedrox]

Originally Posted by Infallible Presence

Are you saying that subtitles that are locked and can't be turned on or off will now be optional with this trick?

Given my that one of ears is half deaf or worse, it's always really-really annoying when companies lock/force subtitles tracks. Such as when I want to watch the English dub and have the subtitles on, but the subtitles only are allowed when watching the foreign language.

I don't have this player, but my Oppo drive sadly went a while back and 9000 is so far the contender. However, I'm still collecting up to get it.

Yes, the UB820/9000 with the region free patch does allow you to disable forced subtitles, even the ones that you normally wouldn't be able to. Basically everything that's not burned in, so a separate track, can be turned on or off, regardless of how the disc was coded.

[anchor_man]

Originally Posted by pr0darek

Starting the player itself takes 12-15 seconds, where is the rest of the time?...

That is a great question, isn't it? A "properly functioning" blu-ray player this thing is certainly not.

[sojrner]

Originally Posted by anchor_man

UB820 is a crappy, low quality device made by Panasonic which we've had the displeasure of owning over the past several years. To see it get such positive reviews is frankly a mystery; here are some of the fun issues we experience on a daily basis with it:

[Show spoiler]
* Player takes almost 2 minutes to start playing a disc from power off.
* Does not allow skipping relentless copyright warnings and other spam from disc manufacturers.
* Dumb remote design with a soulless "netflix" button front and center which is triggered unintentionally.
* Upon inserting a previously watched movie, a prompt asks whether I want to "continue" the movie from where I last left off, which was the last several minutes with the credits rolling. This is beyond stupid.
* The eject button only sometimes works to retract the disc tray, other times it must be forcefully pushed in, which also defies all reason.
* Device caption menus make no sense, are divorced from actual disc caption features.
* Fails to play my 4K copy of 2001 Space Odyssey.
* Says "Powered by Java" on the back which actually explains much of the dysfunction.

I guess one positive thing would be that it has continued to work beyond the warranty period, which deserves praise in today's market. Still, our next device will likely be a Sony.

As pr0darek pointed out, much depends on disc authoring. The continue option is purely based on whether the disc was created with that feature or not. (some studios just don't turn that on) Skipping items depends on the disc as well, though region-unlocked players can bypass that. Java is only used if the disc itself uses BD-Java; being part of the Blu-ray spec, all players must be able to run Java. Even discs can be created faulty, causing a given player to choke on them. For the rest:

• Startup time? While you are a bit exaggerated here, turning off Quick Start does increase boot time. Sony is identical here.
• Remotes from many manufacturers have sponsored buttons. Sony is identical and also has a Netflix button on theirs. Get over it or buy another remote.
• Eject on remote and top of player work 100% of the time, but prolonged boot times (Quick Start off) can make it inactive for a time. Sony is also identical here.
• Every manufacturer has different menu designs, which can have learning curves, but allowing you to dim and reposition subtitles and captions elevate the Panny above others. (Sony does not do that)
• A single disc failing can be a number of issues: like pr0darek, my 2001 plays just fine in my 820. Even if the Sony played it, I would return yours if you've wiped off any residue and it's still failing.

The bonus of moving to a Sony player is, unlike the Panny, Dolby Vision requires manual toggling (leaving it on forces everything, even SD content, into DV), and you get lovely freezes on triple-layered discs after a random period of normal operation. Definitely worth changing to if those features quicken your pulse. I have both a Panny and Sony with first-hand experience for both feature-sets.

Yes, each player has their quirks, with some actually helping. E.g., the Panny top-menu trick gets around many region-locks.

Rock on.

[Robert Zohn]

Sorry to report some Confidential price changes, but the UB9000P1k and UB820 prices are going up this Friday, August 1st.

Anyone interested in any Panasonic BD player should consider placing their order(s) before Friday, August 1, 2025!

[TotallyTuned]

Originally Posted by sjy1969

Setting to Mode 2 activates player led Dolby Vision and if your player is anything like mine will cause severe black crush. The problem with the black text in Dolby Vision was introduced in a (relatively) recent firmware update and affects certain high luminance TVs such as, but not only, the Sony A95L. The latest firmware update gave the Mode 1/Mode 2 options as a workaround. FWIW, I never use Mode 2, occasional black text on Mode 1 notwithstanding.

Just to clarify, for my TV the text is not black. The entire menu is covered by a black bar, and all sub menus appear as black boxes. Is this what you mean?

If this problem tends to be on high luminance displays, maybe it is a bugged anti-burn-in feature meant to reduce the brightness of menu text.

I wouldn't be surprised if player-led DV was inferior, the TV is worth 6X what the player is. I didn't get around to doing a full comparison last night. When was your unit manufactured?

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

Sorry to report some Confidential price changes, but the UB9000P1k and UB820 prices are going up this Friday, August 1st.

Anyone interested in any Panasonic BD player should consider placing their order(s) before Friday, August 1, 2025!

oh dear!

[TotallyTuned]

Originally Posted by Ruined

Can't bag on Panasonic too much considering they still have players in production and still are releasing firmware for what has become a niche market.

• Last update for DP-UB9000/UB820/UB420 was June of last year
• The UB820 has sluggish performance when it comes to navigating menus or using the fast-forward/rewind functions
• The software is either bugged, or the quality-of-life design sucks (menus popping up after disk insertion that need to be dismissed)
• The hardware is not reliable (see check Amazon Verified Purchase reviews)
• The asking price is high, and they are raising it higher despite all of the aforementioned issues.

IDK, I'm glad someone is making players but Panasonic seems to be taking advantage of customers due to the lack of competition.

[Moonlight Shadow]

Bought my UB824 in december 2020 and so far it works absolutely flawless. I use it about 6-8 hours a week and so far it did not have a single glitch unlike the crappy Sony player that I had before and that could not play triple-layer-discs without hanging up at the layer change.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by TotallyTuned

• Last update for DP-UB9000/UB820/UB420 was June of last year
• The UB820 has sluggish performance when it comes to navigating menus or using the fast-forward/rewind functions
• The software is either bugged, or the quality-of-life design sucks (menus popping up after disk insertion that need to be dismissed)
• The hardware is not reliable (see check Amazon Verified Purchase reviews)
• The asking price is high, and they are raising it higher despite all of the aforementioned issues.

IDK, I'm glad someone is making players but Panasonic seems to be taking advantage of customers due to the lack of competition.

The "unreliable player" is more an issue with the UHD format and its insanely high data density than any individual brand player. It seems pretty much all of them start flaking within 5 years from the laser going out of alignment.

Regarding software, the UB9000/UB820 are the only players on the market that are 100% UHD format feature complete. So you can't really criticize the speed etc too much, when every other player's software doesn't even fully support the 4K UHD featureset.

[Mikke73]

Unreliable?

I bought my UB820 in August 2018, and it has 1384 Blu-ray hours.
And not a single problem so far.

[DVD Josh]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

Sorry to report some Confidential price changes, but the UB9000P1k and UB820 prices are going up this Friday, August 1st.

Anyone interested in any Panasonic BD player should consider placing their order(s) before Friday, August 1, 2025!

The players were too expensive even before this, now they are ridiculous.

[Braktastic]

Originally Posted by Robert Zohn

Sorry to report some Confidential price changes, but the UB9000P1k and UB820 prices are going up this Friday, August 1st.

Anyone interested in any Panasonic BD player should consider placing their order(s) before Friday, August 1, 2025!

I take it this a manufacturer's price increased?

[TotallyTuned]

Originally Posted by Mikke73

Unreliable?

I bought my UB820 in August 2018, and it has 1384 Blu-ray hours.
And not a single problem so far.

Lucky you, but a lot of people aren't having that kind of experience. Just check the 1-star Verified Purchase reviews on Best Buy and Amazon. Crutchfield 1-2 star reviews also.

Seems to me that Panasonics most likely have a high defect rate. How many owners only watch a few movies a month and won't run into issues until several years later as a result? And how many people actually keep track of their website logins to be able to post a review? How many others just can't be bothered to write a review and move on with their lives? I suspect the failure rate is higher than even the negative reviews would suggest.

My device is well-ventilated in a pet-free, smoke-free, child-free environment and after about 200hrs it is consistently struggling to read discs.

The crazy part is how many people online will tell you not to buy a Sony. "Go buy a Panasonic!" they say, "Panasonics don't freeze!"